Achieving Equilibrium

Team: Borden, Garrison, Holley, Malaugh, Mayer

Modeling ToolsLinksGoalsPlanTimeline

Modeling Tools

Stella

(secondarily, Excel)

Water 1 Water 2water flow

flow rate

Links

Physical experiments:1. Water height achieving equilibrium between two connected containers.2. Water temperature achieving equilibrium between two volumes mixed together.3. Potato slice immersed in sugar-water solution achieving equilibrium in water concentration.

Goals

1. Understanding dynamic equilibrium in various scientific settings.

2. Using computer technology for problem-solving and real-world applications.

3. Using technological tools to model nature.

4. Hypothesizing mathematical relationships and verifying/falsifying through experimentation.

5. Simulating systems first studied in wet-lab setting, then using simulation to motivate further experiments.

Plan1. Perform experiment 1

or 2 in wet-lab. Gather data and graph in Excel.Build simple Stella simulation of system 1 or 2 achieving equilibrium.

2. Compare simulation to recorded results; (dis)confirm validity of model.

3. Perform experiment 3 in wet-lab.

4. Modify, add layer of complexity, to first Stella simulation to model experiment 3.

5. Observe further details in any of experiments; add additional layer(s) of complexity to second Stella model; make prediction; perform experiment again;

6. (dis)confirm validity of model.

7. Iterate step 6.

Timeline

1. SC2000: select tool and topic; make outline and timeline.

2. March: experiments 1-3 designed; Stella models validated.

3. May: possible directions for step 5 of Plan explored, described, models built.

4. July UAH Workshop: complete equilibrium module.